Blade Dance
by ReyMey
Summary: No Deus ex Machina. An alternate story of how it could have happened if the floor 75 wouldn't have been their last challenge. Sword Art Online didn't end when Kayaba perished, so Kirito and Asuna have to keep playing that game. Upon Kayaba's death the system malfunctions and the pain absorber is set to zero. Only the bravest warriors dare to join the front.
1. I Prologue

**Prologue**

Kirito's opponent was someone who had mercilessly killed over four thousand people. Could a normal human being do such a thing? The deaths of four thousand, the resentment of four thousand, he could withstand such a pressure and still remain perfectly calm, he was no human, he was a monster.

" _Aaaaaaah!"_

He screamed to eliminate the small fragment of fear that had appeared in the back of his mind. He accelerated his movements further and rained down countless blows upon him per second. But Kayaba's expression showed no change. He blocked all his attacks with his cross shield and longsword at speeds the naked eye couldn't even see.

' _Is he even trying !?'_

Nervousness replaced Kirito's anger. Was it possible that Kayaba only stayed on the defensive because he could actually counterattack whenever he wanted and was confident that he could survive even a direct hit from him? Was it even possible to kill the Game Master, the god of this world ?

The suspicion overtook his mind. Heathcliff had never even needed the overassistance from the beginning.

"Damnit...!"

' _Then, how about this ?!'_

He changed his attack pattern and activated « _The Eclipse_ », the highest art of dual wielding. Like the tips of an enveloping corona, his swords sent twenty-seven consecutive attacks towards Kayaba.

But Kayaba had been waiting for him to use a combo skill designated by the system. His face revealed an expression for the first time since the start of the duel. It was completely opposite to the one he had shown last time.. - it was the triumphant smile of someone certain of his victory.

He realized his mistake as soon as he launched the opening attacks of the combo. In these final moments, he had relied on the system instead of himself. But it was already impossible for him to stop the skill, and once the attacks finish he would be subjected to a short delay. Furthermore, Kayaba saw through all his blows, from the start of the combo all the way to the last attack.

As he watched Kayaba swing his shield at extreme speeds, repelling his swords with knowledge of exactly where each blow would land, Kirito muttered in his mind with growing regret.

'Sorry…..., I messed it up, Asuna'

The twenty-seventh attack struck the middle of the shield, sending out a shower of sparks. Then, with the shrill scream of metal, the sword in his left hand shattered. He followed the the sparks and the uncountable bits of his sword, which wafted through the air.

"Well, this is goodbye, Kirito-kun."

Kayaba raised his sword and pointed it at his abdomen section as he stood stunned. A deep red shine glinted off the blade. The blood-red sword was then approaching him at an incredible speed—

He gasped for air as the pain flushed through his body. The sword stuck in his stomach, forcing it's way deeper and deeper into his flesh and organs until the tip hit the inner wall of his back.

"This was more than a satisfying fight, thank you for your association." said the blurry, red silhouette in front of him with a clear undertone of enjoyment. The world seemed to lose colour turning black and white. The long sword in his hand now fully pierced through Kirito's body. He responded to it with several coughs of blood.

' _Is this my end,...is this_ _ **the**_ _end ?!'_

No, he couldn't let it end here. How many others would have to sacrifice their lives if they had to proceed at this rate. The numbers of deaths increased immensely since around floor 50, because the bosses became much stronger with ever greater gaps between each. The number of deaths was reaching an intolerable amount. They were doomed to die in this simulation if they would continue like they did up until now. That was the reason why he accepted the duel in the first place. He wanted to help everyone in this godforsaken game.

'But in the end, I did nothing ….'

This thought compromised his principles. He wouldn't accept this fate, no matter what. He had to win this battle, if not, - he didn't want to think of the possibilities. Gathering all the force and energy he had left in his body, he tightened his grip on the sword which was still in his hand dangling towards the ground, and went for a stab.

It had worked! Heathcliff had his guard down as he had raised his arm and thrusted his only remaining sword deep into Heathcliffs's chest with all the might he could muster. The eyes of the man, who has never been uncalm, widened, but before he could react. A small smile of accomplishment formed his lips when he heard the sword ripping the flesh of his.

Tense silence filled the air as they waited for each other to bleed out first. Glancing at the left top corner of his Head-Up-Display (HUD), he saw his own Health gauge sinking with a rapid pace. He shrugged slightly at the sight. He could hear voices around him, however he couldn't recognize or understand anything. They seemed so near, but still so far away.

"You are merely conscious at this point and still refuse to fall, hm?" The red figure rasped weekly, his voice surprisingly clear to him.

He couldn't see his expression since his his character has dropped to low on health and blurred out every image he received per data, but he was sure that Kayaba was surprised. Even Kirito doubted that he just now beat the game master, well not really beat as he was here on his way dying too, but his opponent's bar was a small red sliver by now too. His gaze traveled around the boss room searching for the chestnut-haired girl. His vision was a total mess. He couldn't find her, so he just faced a direction he thought he could sense an intense and emotional stare, and locked his gaze on a person lying on the ground. His face displayed a last, faint smile before being deprived of vividness.

 _[You are dead]_

It was the command from the god to die. An icy coldness permeated his body. His senses dulled. He felt the innumerable blocks of code unraveling, severing, and destroying his very being. The cold crept up his neck and into his head. Touch, sound, sight, everything became hazy. His entire body was starting to dissolve, becoming shards of polygons, before scattering in all directions.

Kirito felt himself float through some sphere. His body didn't obey him, and his senses were dead, or at least dulled. Mere nothingness enveloped him and let him feel unfamiliarly lonely. He tried to cry out something, but his mouth didn't even budge the slightest and no tone came out.

' _Is this death?'_

* * *

Klein watched the clash of those two completely different monsters. One combatively, the other one humanly. Emotions stacked over each other. He was shocked, seeing the sudden fear in Kirito's eyes when he experienced Heathcliff's true power. And when he was stabbed, Kirito's eyes widened wide, revealing his inner feelings, and Klein almost couldn't take it anymore.

As Kirito's avatar got destroyed, polygons dashed around above the heads of the lying people, time seemed to change in slow motion. This sight sent chills down his spine as it made every inch of his skin crawl.

After mere split seconds, the colossal body of the former leader of Knights of the Blood, and the actual game master, shattered into small polygons too. Luckily, this caused the paralyzation effect to wear out. Everyone seemed to struggle moving so shortly after the intense battle. Klein dashed forward to Kirito's death place.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw Asuna weeping desperately. She seemed to be unable to move due the shock. Her eyes followed the fragments. With unstaedy steps, she tried to grasp the polygons, but there was no way she could reach that high.

Klein had planned that this could happen. He opened the menu and scrolled through his inventory swiftly, not to exceed ten seconds in any way. Finally, he found the small item he searched for and put it on the ground where Kirito's body has been last.

'Please, don't let this be a joke!' Klein prayed silently.

The crystal was given to him by no less a person than Kirito. It was the _Divine Stone of Returning Soul_. He could clearly recall the moment when Kirito went through a hard time and after learning that the item couldn't revive people who were dead for longer than ten seconds he gave it to Klein.

The crystal's tip emitted a dazzling light, causing him to cover his eyes if he didn't want to get blinded. Shimmering blue particles appeared from all over the room and got slowly attracted above head. These small particles merged with each other, growing in size and luminosity. The shower of small fragments by now, descended slowly to the ground, molding into a shape of a person right ntext to the item. Although the harsh was unbearable, he couldn't help but stare at the mesmerizing event in front of his eyes.

The light died out gradually, and soon the familiar dimness returned into the room. Klein felt various people curiously peeking over his shoulder. Before the light totally vanished, another flas of light was emitted from the crystal, forcing everyone to squint their eyes or to advert their gaze. When it settled down, he could hear loud gasps right next to his ear. He opened up his eyes, only to widen them right after.

A slim, black silhouette lay there where he put the crystal before, which has been burst into thousands of polygons, but he didn't really pay much attention to that. His eyes kind of locked on the baby-like face of the strongest swordsman in whole Aincrad. It was the man, or more likely the boy, who had gained the most respect in this world.

Before anyone could even blink, a lightning flash passed by Klein and halted on side of the lifeless figure.

* * *

"Asuna !"

His voice didn't even register in her mind. It felt as if all her emotions were being ripped out of her character, as if she was falling into a bottomless abyss engulfed by despair. There was no reason for her to do anything anymore. Whether it was fighting in this world, returning to the original world, or even continuing to live on, all of them had lost their meaning when Kirito couldn't be at her side.

Strong hands shook her out of her thoughts. She had been unconsciously reaching towards the ceiling where the fragments of Kirito had escaped to. But they weren't there anymore.

"Look!" said Agil whilst pointing to the source of a series of flashes of light.

"Wha-.." Asuna managed to express with a hoarse voice. Waiting for the lightning show to end she couldn't believe her eyes. _I am hallucinating, right?! There is no way this is happening!_ and thus she rushed to his side as fast as the system allowed.

"Kirito-kun !" She cried out his name desperately, as if it were a magical word to bring his consciousness back. She took the head of the boy in a tight embrace.

"Kirito-kun, you won't leave me, right? ...you promised." She whispered weakly into his ear.

The expression of the boy was unsettling, as if he was experiencing a lot of pain. Asuna tightened her embrace even more. Her fingers gingerly brushed over his pale cheek. His brows furrowed and breathes become deeper. With a lot of effort, which she couldn't help but notice, he opened his eyes.

"Kirito-kun !" Asuna was kneeling on the ground, her face right before his eyes. Her eyebrows were tightened, and she was biting her lip. Tears of desperation were now replaced by tears of joy and dripped from her nose on his cheeks.

As he sat up, pain spiked through his head and caused his face to distort. It was real pain...he wasn't imagining things, was he?

"You idiot!"

She shouted and then jumped into his arms and hugged him. It surprised him enough to make him forget what happened for a moment. He could only accept her hug. After a seemingly endless while of silence, she broke apart and poured a small bottle into his mouth. The liquid which flowed in was a high-quality potion that tasted like a combination of lemon juice and green tea. It should fully heal his HP within five minutes, but his weariness was going to last a while longer. He had strong feeling of Dejá Vú at this point.

Asuna checked to confirm that he had drunk all of it. Then, as her face began to scrunch up, she put her forehead on the crook at his neck and hid it from him. Kirito raised his head at the echoing sound of footsteps and saw Klein approach. He seemed a little apologetic for disturbing them, and as he wanted to start speaking, Kirito interrupted him.

"Why am I still alive? I clearly saw the death message." He asked in a cold voice. He felt Asuna twitch a little in his arms but decided to ignore it, not to make matters worse.

"You remember last Christmas ?" Klein asked with a growing smile on his face, Kirito tried to recall that event, but failed horribly.

"I don't, sorry. Maybe it's cause my head is still pulsing like crazy and I am a former dead man."

"You shouldn't make jokes about it...It was the revival item which got you back." he jogged Kirito's memory.

A moment of enlightment, followed by a moment of grumbling as he thought about the acutal purpose for the item, but finally followed by his happiness about his luck, after which he lowered his head slightly to show his gratitude to Klein.

"Thank you very much, I owe you something!"

"No, actually we are the ones to thank you." He suddenly noticed that aside from Asuna, everyone in the room was looking at him. A sheepish smile painted his face as he noticed this as he has never been a good center of attention. A murmur of agreement went through the room. Then they all lined up in front of him and bowed all to show their respect and graduation.

"It looks like this is the flow for the ending theme, right ?" Klein announced loudly. Kirito smiled happily and blissfully, but there was nostalgia too. The remembrance resurfaced in his inner eye. From the City of Beginnings till now, he had done so much in this world. It was as if he was born and raised in here.

Klein threw a weird glance at the still-cuddling couple.

"As soon as I am out I am gonna find a girlfriend myself and make her happy!" Klein said out of the sudden with a strong voice and raised his fist while looking towards them with a serious look.

Kirito responded with a smile and rubbed the back of his head. "Sure you will".

The crowd seemed to be motivated by this little speech and made their own wishes public.

"I will get to my old life and will be next to my newborn baby once again!"

"I will graduate once I'm outta here!"

"I will be with my girlfriend once I'm out of here." said a specific brown-haired boy. He seemed full of determination. Just thinking about being seperated from Asuna for more than two years terrified him and disturbed him deeply. He lowered his head so his lips were practically touching Asuna's ear.

"Once we are out of here I will find you and fall in love with you again." He could sense a resposne by the increasing strength of her hug.

A small blush tinted their cheeks slightly red. Then Klein seemed to pause out for a moment before he narrowed his eyes looking to nothing in particular.

"By the way Kirito..." The boy who had exclaimed the wish to return to his girlfriend, said.

"Hm?"

"When will we leave ?" Kirito was left speechless for a while.

"He told us that when we defeat him he will release us." he said before realizing how dumb it sounded. Why did he trust that man? Was it cause it was the only hope? Who would have thought that he would let them free so easily anyway. 'No, Kayaba wouldn't lie' he went with his gut.

"What now ?" The same boy, who seemed about the same age, asked and added right afterwards "We have beaten the game master, so why isn't this game finished yet ?" The situation worsened at his words, and made the people wonder and murmur, causing uncontrollable fussing.

Suddenly, the air zapped loudly and the room's colour was displayed with the wrong colours for a few moments. Everyone was shocked. The Cardinal's system seemed to freak out, but it settled down quickly. Asuna jumped up and pressed to Kirito's side.

" _WHAT WAS THAT_!" The room filled up with panic, everyone stampeding blindly. The emotions of each person was written obviously on their faces. _Dread ._ After some time, the leader of the guild Divine Dragon Alliance shot up and yelled loudly.

" _SILENCE!_ " His voice echoed, bouncing off from the walls and silencing every single person. He huffed annoyed and glared at all of them at once with a scornful look in his eye. Stepping aside, he let Kirito be the center of attention as he waved his hand in his direction. The boy nervuosly coughed in his fist to clear his throat. Frankily, he sucked at talking to bigger groups of people.

"We should move with the flow for now." Kirito proposed, much to their shocks. "It's a waste of time to wait here for something to happen." Yet again he could hear many murmures around him but he didn't pay any attention to that. His eyes were focused at nothing particular on the vast, blue, wall behind the crowd, staring down the nothingness.

"So we still have to fight ?!" An angered person in the crowd growled.

"What else ?" Kirito asked surprisingly cold, causing the the person to shut.

"So it isn't finished yet ?" Asuna talked waveringly into his neck, and lifted her head up to meet his onyx caring eyes. Kirito placed his fingers under her chin and raised her head even more, nearing her head to his one. Their lips connected, and they melted into the kiss with all their passion and fervor.

Kirito wanted to never let go and stay like that forever, but his lungs screamed for air after a very long kiss. He looked lovingly into her eyes as he gently caressed her cheek and wiped off a small tear in the corner of her eye. Displaying a hearty smile, he answered her.

"Yeah, we will have to fight on."

* * *

 ** _A/N: If you want this story to continue, please leave a review. I know I've once uploaded it before, but that was my first try and my story started to get out of hand very soon. So I wanted to start over, but need to know if it is worth writing. Please leave a review or a follow so I know that there are some people actually reading my stuff. Also please point out any so I can correct them right away, thank you._**


	2. II The Realization

**The First Night of Fall**

There he stood on the cliff, looking at the horizon of emerald-green meadows beneath his feet, stretching out in front of him and glinting in the brazen orange sunlight. A cold breeze caressed his worn cheek carrying the coldness of the dusk. The wind puffed from the rear, weakly pressing against his back and making his clothes flutter along the wind.

He put his head back and watched the faint glow of the stars in the dawning sky. The sight of the vivid landscapes, the scent of blossoms, the warmness of his coat, the feeling of exhaustion, even the few pebbles which were noticeably pressing against his soles. Everything felt so realistic.

The automatic street lights of each city, which usually activated around 7pm, were already lit. It must have been hours since the god of this world fell, but only a few minutes since he had regained consciousness. He had no recollection of what had happened after he passed out in Asuna's arms.

To his right a path of gravel lead down steeply the little mountain and cut through green landscape with the flow of a creeping snake, ending up in a little city with houses made out of timber. Their appearance wasn't the most promising in this world. They all reminded him of the petite, almost derelict taverns he had slept in the very first months of this game to save money.

Only a few dozens of steps behind him was the door leading towards the room he thought to be his grave in. But somehow it was strange, like everything had changed since they exited that room. Somehow he felt like Aincrad, the whole world, had changed with the deprivation of its master.

And since then, the random pangs of pain in the back of his skull pestered him incessantly. _Pain..._ the feeling which he hadn't felt since like forever.

 _That's most probably the punishment for the Revival_ , was his first theory. There were a lot items which could cause a lot of burden to the body, like the _Rage Potion_ for instance, which basically increased the strength of the consumer for 50%, but exhausted the person's stamina a lot faster. So there was no reason to doubt that there was an item which caused pain.

However he had a second theory to odd occurrence. Since he had died for a few seconds, the procedure of the _brain-cooking_ could have been started. The damage which was dealt to his brain before the killing program was interrupted, could have caused this pain. Or maybe his brain experienced a huge overflow of electrical signals because of his apparent death.

 _But all the feelings from the outside would be blocked…._ he thought.

A voice dragged him from his endless train of thoughts to the present.

"Kirito-kun~, come here!" The voice-owner was none other than Asuna.

"Sure" He responded with lacking motivation to walk those few steps. Walking to the slim figure in white armor, which simplified the task to find her in the dark, he recognized two more frames standing there. Klein and Agil.

"Kirito, there's a real problem." started Agil with a stern face "We found out that all items are inaccessible beside the ones having equipped."

Chills rushed down his spine as he heard that. Swiftly pinching his thumb and index finger, he swiped downwards through the air. Pressing some buttons on his window, he let his jaw drop.

"You're right, shit!" All item names were greyed out, and couldn't be used.

"At least, we have our battle gear already equipped." Kirito let out a long sigh of relief.

But then he saw the still furrowed look on Agil's face.

"That's not all."

"What do you mean?"

"We also found out that the teleport gates don't allow us to teleport to lower floors anymore."

"Wha-" A rush of sadness rushed over him. A glimpse at Asuna who was smiling soothingly at him, told him that she knew it already. Their house on the 22nd floor, the little log house by the wonderful lake, which they had bought only weeks ago with all of their money, was no more to return. He was so eager to return to that log cabin, if only for a few days.

And not only that, Lizbeth and Agil had it very hard too. Their shops and homes were on the lower floors, but they would need to come up here if they wanted to meet again.

"Will you manage?" Kirito asked Agil.

"Yeah, no problem for me." but then he added with a lower voice "but it will hit Lizbeth quite hardly"

Right, she had humongous storages for swords and armors, but they all were unusable by now. At least Agil was flexible and could fight for money from now on, but Lizbeth had only her blacksmithing skill which was useless without the hardly gathered resources.

' _Kayaba's death caused all of this, didn't it?'_ Kirito tried to find an explanation for this odd events happening lately. Something had to be wrong with the Cardinal System. But Kayaba told them that he was the actual last boss so the game must be cleared by now if he had done what he promised. What was he waiting for?

"...-ito-kun, Kirito-kun ?" As he shifted his mind back to the present he found Asuna looking at him with a smile.

"You are daydreaming very often recently." said Asuna, but he was too tired to explain what was going in his head, so he simply averted his gaze. A short glance to the night sky reminded him of how exhausted and tired he actually was after the two boss fights.

"Let's go already."

They walked through the valley between hills to the left and right. The slim gravel way ended in front of the city and flowed over into stony soil, covering the whole ground of this small city.

"See you guys tomorrow" said Klein and Agil in unison as they were branching off to the left at the first junction.

"Bye"

His feet grew sore and his legs became doddery. Walking hand in hand with intertwined fingers, they decided to go into the next inn they see, as Kirito stumbled every second step due the growing tiredness. Searching support on Asuna's shoulders with his arm slung around her neck, they made it to a tavern which didn't look different from the others. He couldn't afford being picky as the desire to sleep grew. They entered the room without hesitation.

A small light bulb brightened the room with an orange tone. The walls and floor were entirely made of wood planks. In the petite lobby was a small counter without a person staffing it. On the left side of the room was a staircase leading upstairs to the rooms as he supposed. Asuna approached the counter and chimed a bell placed there, while Kirito supported his heavier-becoming body. After a few moments, footsteps could be heard from upstairs.

A woman with the age of around 25 apologized as she walked, from the stairs to the other side of the counter. She wore an elegant purple shirt with white traces at the edges along with a suitable skirt reaching merely her knees. ' _It is an NPC'_ , he realized. Actions like making players wait or have a habit of any kind or other little imperfections were added on purpose to make them seem more human. However her moves, gestures, expression and even her way of talking made it obvious, at least Kirito had never any trouble distinguishing between NPC and human.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting" She apologized with a deep, respecting bow.

"We would like to have a room for two persons." said Asuna. The NPC averted her gaze from Asuna to Kirito who was slowly having greater problems at standing on two feet, and smiled broadly.

"Perhaps you'd wish for a bigger room?" she said innocently with a little too much happiness and friendliness at this late hour.

"No, we'd like to have a normal one please." She threw a glance back at him. To her surprise, Kirito had planted the side of his face on the desk and searched for a firm grip. Drool flowed out of his mouth and wetted the surface of the counter gradually. The more exhausted Kirito was, the cuter was his sleeping face. And the face she was seeing, she considered to be the cutest sleeping face she's ever seen.

"One or two beds?" The woman asked with a neutral expression.

"One bed is enough"

* * *

The sunlight pierced through the cracks of the curtain, dividing the shine into individual sunrays and brightening the whole room. As one of them hit the face of the chestnut haired girl, she left the world of sleep and reluctantly woke up.

Rubbing the drowsiness away from her eyes with the back of her fist, she let out a low yawn, careful not to wake up the person next to her. Stretching her limbs in all possible directions she shifted to the side and watched her husband sleep in this peaceful morning.

She giggled silently at the sight of Kirito's face and slowly put her head on his lifting chest, listening to his calming heartbeat.

From the past she had learned to savour the few peaceful moments in their life. Especially since yesterday this feeling had grown a lot stronger. ' _What if Klein hadn't had that item?_ '

Soon, they'd be forced to go on forward. Even if everyone had accepted that they'd have to live in a game their whole life, she wouldn't stop. Her burning desire was to meet Kirito in the real world and fall in love with him there as well.

And beside that, there was actually a frightening feeling that they had missed something very important lately. But she had no idea what it could be causing this much worry.

A slight movement on her side stopped her racking her brain to the limits and attracted her attention towards Kirito whose face had scrunched up as a sunray was thrown his way. Asuna stared at his shut eyelids, waiting for them to open and reveal the tender gleaming, onyx eyes.

Hazel met onyx. Kirito blinked a few times as to blink away the remaining tiredness in his eyes. A faint smile painted his face, which was responded by a peck to the cheek by Asuna.

"Good Morning"

Asuna gently lowered her body on top of his, which she did very carefully for some reason, and they just lay there in comfortable silence, inhaling and exhaling each other's scent and warmth.

But even this little time of peace for only them both had to end as the ringing of a notification broke the silence.

"Who is it?" Kirito asked as Asuna threw herself on her side of the bed. Seeing the fortunate in the unfortunate, there was no need to get changed as they had slept in before getting undressed.

"Hm, lemme see... it's from Masaru. It's an invitation to a meeting which will take place around 6pm" Asuna sighed. But actually there was no reason to go, as they both were no guild leaders. So why?

Kirito rolled his eyes over to Asuna who had stood up and stretched her arms into the air to get rid of the stiffness in her body. Unconsciously his eyes examined Asuna. The gallant white silk of which it was made accompanied with the metal breast plate. It sure looked light to wear in contrast to his armor of special material sewed into the fabric of his coat, which was anything but light.

"What are you doing?" Kirito had hoped to stay in bed a little longer with her. She looked at him in surprise as if he had no notion at all. Well…he had no notion after all.

Then it hit him like lightning strike. The Flash, Asuna-sama, the reason to why she was the most famous female player. After all she had been the deputy of Heathcliff, the strongest player in the world leading the strongest guild in the world. His thoughts were affirmed by Asuna moments later.

"I'll go there, I have to be present as the leader of The Knight of the Blood and need to prepare with my substitutes."

Kirito's jaw dropped. Did that mean that there was a lot less time for them from now on?

"What's the conference about?" he asked. Asuna responded with a very surprised expression as if she was telling her how he hadn't figured it out already. But instead of saying it out loud she drew closer to Kirito and pinched his arm.

A feeling he hadn't felt this bad in ages. IT remembered him of then when he still was doing Kendo with his grandpa and sister. For every little mistake he would get punished. And those punishments were severe if his opponent swung hard and was as merciless as his grandpa or sister.

 _Pain_... But when Asuna, and apparently everyone else knew about this one it couldn't have been the effect of the _Revival Item_.

"Also, wounds and bruises are now existing…" With a gesture of her head she made him look down onto his arm, which was red because of the pinch. Kirito started to panic internally. How would he fight from now on as he was very pain-intolerant because his body almost never had experienced brutal pain.

Before he could panic anymore, Asuna looked intensely at his chest, hesitating to explain. "Also you should have a look at your chest…" and as if to avoid seeing his chest with him, she left the room.

Worried by the strange behaviour of Asuna, he heaved his shirt.

 _A bandage?!_ Someone had treated him with aid as he had slept deeply, he thought. Grabbing the Bandage, he heaved it little by little. The images assaulting his eyes made him almost throw up.

A flow of dried off blood blotched his whole torso. Dozens of veins had popped and burst all around his chest because of outer assault. And then there was this spot he couldn't look closer if he didn't want to puke. The place where Kayaba had thrusted his sword into him. A single thrust made that wound look like his chest had been butchered and mauled.

He covered the wound as fast as possible with the bandages, doing as few motions as possible.

That meant not only did they start receiving pain, but also they would get horrible, disabling wounds which would last if they were not careful.

They hadn't played a death game up until now, he realized as the realization of his injury made him notice. The real hell just had started.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review, I'd appreciate it very much! Also it would be nice to follow if you like this story so I'm able to get feedback of how many actually follow this story. New Chapters are coming every second week. If there are any typos or weird, senseless sentences, please point them out and I will correct them. I had no time to read through it and to be honest, I was quite in a hurry.**


	3. III Thousand Stars

**The Night of a Thousand Stars**

A nerve-wrecking atmosphere was unsettling Tetsu. Only the strongest and most important players in whole Aincrad were gathered here, with two exceptions. The first one was that _he_ was allowed to come along with his leader, even though he wasn't her proxy, but for whatever reason his leader had chosen him to come along. Upon his many questions she always responded with ' _I'll tell you later'._

And the second exception was that the officially strongest player in this game wasn't gracing them with his presence. It was Kirito, _The Dual-wielder_. But at least Asuna, _The Flash_ and leader of _The Knights of the Blood_ was taking part today, although it was doubted by many that she'd come. However many of the participants, including him, voted for someone else to chair the meeting as Asuna was still too inexperienced to replace her former leader, at least that's what they thought, because to Tetsu she was making a very promising impression and emitting an aura of confidence and certainty.

Masamura, the leader of _The Divine Dragon Alliance_ was elected to take that role. Tetsu couldn't stand that guy for some reason. ' _Was it the way he talked, moved? Perhaps his face?'_ he thought. He had no idea what it was, but something deep in him couldn't accept Masamura at all.

"The reason for our gathering should be pretty obvious by now." Masamura started the conference with a voice Tetsu liked to describe as a leader-voice.

"Since the defeat of Heath-..., I mean Akihiko Kayaba, there were several malfunctions in the system, we suppose. The worst of them being the activation of pain and injuries. As for why Kirito-san can't be with us today is a great example of how severe the injuries can disable the person and have a great impact on the flow of the clearing."

Tetsu expected soft murmurs by now, as the fact for why Kirito couldn't come was surprising to most of them, but the leaders proved their maturity once again as none of them dared to disturb the chairman.

"Many are afraid and at least half of them have already left the front. Their fear of suffering pain is preventing us from advancing in our mission to clear this game. We need plans to change this, as soon as possible! Any ideas?"

Masamura balled his hands in front of his face and roamed with his sharp, gray eyes around the room. His gray-dyed hair was almost fully shaven on the sides and grown long on top, giving him a kind of a macho-look. Tetsu guessed his age to be around 25.

After a long while of silence, in which he seemed to hear the racking of the 12 leaders' brains in the room, a red-clothed young man coughed in his fist and adjusted his yellow bandana on his forehead before starting to talk.

"Actually, their fear is fully understandable, isn't it? We never had a major battle since we can feel pain, but just imagine getting only grazed by a sharp sword, or getting poisoned by a _Green Beetle_. Earlier, we could simply accept the opponent's attacks dealing damage to us as long as we didn't got under half HP, but now we gotta be careful as there'll be always a chance of getting disabled or rendered immobile by the very first blows and the immense pain, and even if the person wins the battle because of whatever reason, the wounds will stay and the player will have to deal with the pain for a long time. And that's only the lucky case, now imagine getting a limb cut off." That samurai was the leader of the guild _Furinkazan_ , Tetsu recalled, looked around the room and awaited a response beside the gloomy expression on most people's faces.

Keira, Tetsu's leader and with that the leader of the guild _Thousand Stars_ , frowned and grumbled oddly often next to him, her thought process audible to him. Klein sat down silently, trying to read the various expressions formed on the faces of his listeners. After the long thinking session was ended with the sound of a creaking chair. The person who stood up this time was someone not very known amongst them. This person was the leader of a guild which had joined the front for around a couple of months. He wore a long, white coat, looking more like a magician than a swordsman, although there was no magic in this game.

However as he saw his face he had to disagree with his earlier thought as his was clearly the face of an old barbarian around his forties. Thick eyebrows and a white beard was adorning his face.

"My idea might sound unacceptable at first, but before calling things you'll later regret, please give it a thought." He inhaled deeply, as to make himself ready for a guaranteed upheaval. "Why don't we avoid danger and start to accept that we are forced to live our lives in here…"

Louder-becoming protests drowned out his speech before he could finish. Tetsu was speechless for a moment, in a little state of shock. He took it for possible that someone eventually would make a proposal like this, but not this early. As the people weren't about to stop their ranting any time soon, Masamura knocked at the surface of the table with his knuckles and made them all go silent, his great authority brilliantly radiating.

"I think we should hear him out." he said, beckoning the old man to talk on.

"If we were to live our lives here for the rest of our lives, we neither would have to face the danger of getting killed nor the possibility of receiving a fatal injury or suffering from excruciating pain. This world isn't all to different from the other one."

The annoyance of many didn't seem to cease. Maybe Tetsu only imagined it, but he could see a light of acceptance see in some of the people's eyes. As he looked around, examining the expressions on the player's faces, a gulp was inevitable and little sweat drops started to form on his forehead.

Certain hazel eyes burned with blazing emotions of disgust, refusal and controlled rage, and at the same time they showed her endless willpower. The person whom those eyes belonged looked ready to unsheathe her weapon and thrust hundreds of holes into the old man in fractions of a second.

Tetsu brushed those uneasy thoughts off and continued with what he could do best, inspect.

* * *

'Ah…..ugh…..' These sounds escaped his throat incessantly.

His whole body twitched in pain with each beat of his heart. The injuries seemed to become worse with each second, she thought. Not a single movement was left unpunished by his body.

He clenched his fist with all the energy he could muster and gritted his teeth so strongly that he thought his teeth would shatter at any moment. The pangs of pain seemed to become worse with each one.

A drop of sweat rolled down his cheek following his jawline towards his chin, from where it dropped on his bare, reddened chest.

The spectator, who was seated next to his bed on an old-fashioned wooden chair, watched him, while swinging her legs back and forth. It was a pain for her to watch the swordsman in such a weak state. Thinking that she could somehow linder the pain with company, she visited him. But they hadn't a decent conversation yet.

For her he was one of the few, from whom she hoped very great things to be accomplished. For her he was one of her few friends. So she fervently hoped that he would rejuvenate as quickly as possible.

"Argo…" The raven-haired boy uttered her name in great agony as his face distorted because of another pang.

"Yeah?!" She stopped scrolling aimlessly through the player menu in front of her eyes and focused on his sweat-covered face.

"How's it….—ah—...going?" She shrugged and stood up briskly. Brushing her bangs to the side she threw her hood on her head, covering half of her face behind it.

"Can't know since I had to visit a fallen brother in arms. However you shouldn't worry too much, they'll work it out somehow. Remember, Asuna is there too. I'll go and get you something." Without waiting for an answer she closed the door behind her and walked quickly out of the little tavern. Cursing the game developer that he didn't implement any kind of painkillers into the game, she set off.

The sun was high on the sky and casted mirages upon the heated stone pavement. Soaked in sweat and her black coat clutching onto her skin uncomfortably, she took out a bottle of water from her inventory and walked down the burning street, swallowing the water greedily.

 _The meeting shouldn't have finished yet, maybe I'll pay them a visit._

* * *

The meeting was meaningless and had only brought disappointing results. They pondered a lot, continued collection ideas, hearing out positive and negative sides of each, and finally Masamura ended the meeting when the interest in that topic slowly ceased. With empty hands they all went home, their time wasted for nothing.

Tetsu readjusted his cloak, which was fluttering wildly to his left side in the windy night. The air carried the odor of plants from the 'Maria Flower Field' nearby. The breeze washed over the landscape, making the desolate trees and bushes rustle peacefully.

He inhaled deeply, enjoying every moment of calm and tranquility. The same pertained to his leader, Keira. Her long steps and relaxed posture made him wonder if she knew the word _worry_ at all. The blonde-white hair reaching her hips, was carried by the motion of the wind and wafted wildly through the air. The weak shine of the moon gave her hair the final touch with a beautiful shimmer.

"What do you think? How is this gonna unfold?" She interrupted the silence. Her azure-blue eyes became serious suddenly and fixated on something far away in the darkness of the night.

"Not sure. Could be that the old man—"

"—Genki-san..."

Tetsu coughed into his hand before continuing: "Right, Genki-san could get a lot of followers since many share the same thoughts and interest."

"I won't accept it" Keira said colder than the night's chill, her voice devoid of emotions. This brusque response surprised Tetsu.

"You know, Tetsu, more than half of the members have already left our guild." She talked on.

"Recite the promise everyone had to make in order to join our guild."

"We will devote our lives to clearing this game and helping each other. We will never betray someone else in our party and we will never leave someone behind. I shall receive commands by the leader of _Thousand Stars_ and I am obliged to execute them." Tetsu recited flawlessly. The exact words were to be memorised as the rules told. The azure eyes averted her face from Tetsu to look in the direction of the little Town which was located to their right.

"It good to know that at least one person has memorised the promise and intends to keep it, don't you?" She threw a bidding glance to him, who affirmed with a clear nod.

"Yes, even if it costs my life." Faint felicity painted her face and the corners of her mouths curled up slightly.

"Thank you"

…

The way to the guild's headquarters took them around thirty minutes. As the bright light, protruding in contrast to the dim lighting of the village, was perceptible, he asked something which was bothering him for longer than it should have.

"Keira-san, ehm…, why was I the one to accompany you to the meeting and not your proxy? Or James. Hasn't he always been the proxy of the proxy in a way?"

"Isn't it clear? You were clearly the best choice. You have great eyes, you read people like a book." Startled by the abrupt praise his cheeks reddened.

"How do you mean that?"

"The expressions of the people. Most of the time leaders put up a facade when they go into the public. They adapt special demeanors and a false attitude most of the time. But you are able to discern their actual thoughts…..— and their real selves."

"—…..."

"And…

"Mason and James have left the guild forever..."

She smiled. Oddly, she smiled. He blinked a few times to be sure he wasn't imagining things, she still smiled.

"So my next proxy are you."

She continued to smile.

"Why? Why would they do that?" It was as if someone had triggered an anger button deep in his head. His voice became louder.

"There is no way that they would leave..."

"No, they—.." Her voice cracked. Coughing, she proceeded with a smile floating on her face.

"No, they actually did, Tetsu. But now I have another promising proxy."

Her outer appearance lied. She wasn't happy at all. There was no way that she could smile in such a situation. Since they were _Thousand Stars_ members. She loved every of her few followers. Huge efforts and much dedication was needed to form the guild they pose as today. Losing such crucial member was painful.

Since Mason and James had helped her build the guild from scratch. They were like childhood-friends. Tetsu had thought they would be childhood-friends when he joined the guild and saw their close relationship but he was mistaken.

To keep the emotions to herself was expected from her as a leader. But she was in great pain, he could swear.

"I can't believe it…" Tetsu whispered, his hand clenching into a fist.

"How do you know that they left?" Tetsu asked. Keira bit her lower lip. The effort on mustering the right words, was displayed on her face.

"They did. Their names are grayed out. And it's all my fault…..

...Today, early in the morning I asked them to out and kill some _Giant Cobra._ Their skin can be very versatile in usage, you know? Mostly needed for cosmetic products. I needed the cobra skin for an important trade and since only few of are able to kill mobs on this high level floor they seemed to be perfect." Her throat seemed to close down with every word. The words barely escaped her mouth.

" _Giant Cobras_ are venomous." She kept on staring at the stony way full of gravel and dirt.

 _They are high-level, no mere mob could one-hit those two. The fight should have been easy in favor for them,_ Tetsu thought.

"It's inevitable. In every farming session you will get at least one hit during the procedure. It inevitable…" Her smile had faded a long time ago.

"As they came back to me with the loot, they didn't stop explaining how painful it was to get bitten. How foolish it was from me…. I just saw their _Envenomed_ status. Like always, medicaments were something very expensive and instead we used healing potions which were a lot cheaper. And like always, we just accepted the little damage of the venom and healed up through the natural regeneration….so we were foolish enough to not even possess antidotes. Instead we always used healing potions….always...

….The trading partner was waiting for us in the downtown half an hour before the meeting, so I couldn't appear this time. I sent Mason to the deal and James to train the novices in the forest." Keira's breathing was getting shallower and shallower. Her heart rate was noticeably increasing.

"The pain must have been too great…." A tear drop welled up in the corners of her eyes. Her hands shook as much as her whole body.

"...One hour into the meeting the novices which should have been training sent me a text about how strange James was acting. He wasn't his usual self. Later he was permanently clasping his throat in agony, cursing and swearing, and later he even wished for death, I was told, before he thrusted his own sword through his own abdomen."

Tetsu froze in place, his mind deprived of any kind of thought.

"During the meeting I saw how the money was paid into the guild bank, so Mason must have done it on they way back. Mason had no weapons on him when he went to the downtown to meet the merchant. The shopkeeper says that he had bought a kitchen knife at his market, only to stab himself between the eyes moments later in barely outside of the safezone."

The wall of restrain in her tear ducts broke and the pearl-shaped tears rolled down her cheeks from wide luminous eyes leaving no smears or streaks.

Tetsu could feels his own tears wetting his own cheeks. Old remembrances flashed in front of his inner eye.

...

Keira, Mason and James were no childhood-friends

They were no friends at all….

—they were siblings…..

Tetsu lifted his face, watching the peaceful night sky through vision-blurring tears.

He was pretty sure that his senses fooled him when he saw two stars next to each other, flashing simultaneously, but he wanted to believe that somewhere above Jason and Mason were watching upon the guild.

Bitter tears hit the ground, splashing and disappearing into the ground.

* * *

Black-Out after Black-Out.

His body couldn't handle the pain flushing out from the hideous wound on his chest. His brain was again about to shut down his consciousness due the overload of pain as he perceived movement in the room. Loud footsteps were registered in his dulled ears right after.

A tender hand gingerly caressed his chest as his heart throbbed against it with all its might. Pleasantly surprised by the notion of his company, he relaxed his scrunched up face, his heart rate slowed down and he was dragged into nothingness soon.

The last information processed in his brain being the lovely fragrance of his beloved one.

* * *

 **A/N: Maybe you didn't like the drama in this chapter, but I swear it's essential for the following chapters so please bear with me. Also this chapter was so slow and devoid of any action, I will make it up for you guys in the next chapter.**

 **See you next time! (the next chapter shouldnt take all too long)**


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